NEW UK GOVT EXTENDS NEW ENERGY INCENTIVES

New Conservative British Government Agrees on More Feed-in Tariffs
Paul Gipe, May 12, 2010 (Wind-Works)

"Less than two months after Britain's Labour Party launched its highly regarded feed-in tariff program, the [new coalition] government has announced the program will be expanded.

"…[Both] the Conservative Party (the Tories), and the Liberal Democrats…have issued statements in the past supporting the principle of feed-in tariffs for developing Britain's renewable energy potential…The Tories said during the campaign that they would scrap the current Renewable Obligation (RO), the British form of Renewable Portfolio Standards, and use feed-in tariffs to develop renewable energy."

To be improved? (click to enlarge)

"Britain is one of Europe's renewable energy laggards. Despite the best wind resource in Europe, the county has only developed 4,000 MW of generation after two decades of effort. During the same period, Germany has installed 25,000 MW of wind capacity. France, itself a laggard, has installed as much as Britain in half the time. Both Germany and France use feed-in tariffs.

"The British Wind Energy Association objected to the Tory proposal, arguing that abruptly eliminating the RO would cause a hiatus in development, setting renewables back even further…The coalition agreement should satisfy incumbent wind energy developers and their trade associations as well as new entrants looking to enter the British market."

To be improved? (click to enlarge)

"The agreement implies that the new government will expand the feed-in tariff policy further to encompass more than the "microgenerators" covered under the existing program while maintaining the Renewable Obligation Certificates that are the heart of the RO program…

"In another measure of how far the party of Margaret Thatcher has moved toward the rapid development of renewable energy can be found in the Tory manifesto published prior to the election. The manifesto's section on sustainability singles out Freiburg, Germany…[where solar development] was all driven by Germany's "banded" system of feed-in tariffs, since emulated in Britain's new program…"